From: Milton Aupperle <milton@outcastsoft.com>

Date: September 13, 2007 10:48:36 AM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Re: New Images..


Hi Tim;


On 13-Sep-07, at 8:29 AM, Tim wrote:

Milton:


These are really nice!  


Thanks.



Have you tried imaging with the flea2 and guiding with the flea?  I

find mine to be less sensitive, of course, but the greater number of

pixels makes for a smoother result.


It's a lot less sensitive for two reasons.


1) The Flea 2 1032x776 camera has pixels that are 4.65x4.65 microns where as the Flea is 7.4x7.4. So the Flea is 2.5 times as sensitive and  with the Flea 2 I would need to expose for 2.5 times as long. You could bin 2x2 with the Flea 2, but that winds up giving you a resolution of roughly 9.3 microns per pixels.


2) On the Flea camera that I bought, I replaced the original  IR filter with one from Edmund Optics that has a higher pass through above 645 nm. The IR filter they ship with the PGR cameras drops to below 20% at 645 nm, which means the all important 656 nm Hydrogen light is being cut out for Nebulas. I don't own the Flea 2 camera and it's on loan from PGR for testing, so I can't modify it and in fact I barely use it at all.


The Camera I really want is their new Grashopper 14S5, with the Sony EXHAD ICX285 1384x1026  6.45 x 6.45 pixel CCD, which is 2x as sensitive as the HAD base Flea 7.4 micron cameras. But it is really expensive. It would be an ideal camera for planetary as you could cut the CCD exposure in half or reduce the gain levels by 50%.


It shines for planetary.  Less magnification required due to the

smaller pixels, and more flexibility with the ROI capability.


True the Flea 2 does have 40% smaller pixels, but if I put a 1x barlow on, we get the exact same thing for scale and sensitivity too.


The Flea also has ROI too, so if you want to crop down to a smaller size, then that's possible.


TTYL..


Milton J. Aupperle

President

ASC - Aupperle Services and Contracting

Mac Software (Drivers, Components and Application) Specialist

#1005 - 815 14th Avenue. S.W.

Calgary Alberta T2R0N5

1-(403)-229-9456

milton@outcastsoft.com

www.outcastsoft.com

Proud Supporter of the "Party of Alberta"

http://www.partyofalberta.org/